Summary of the Campaign
On December 7, 2009, leaders from 192 countries met in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). Expectations were stratospheric but reaching an agreement on an international treaty would be one of the biggest challenges in recent history. The United Nations and the International Advertising Association enlisted our help to raise global awareness of this important conference. We created a public relations campaign that rose above the political divisiveness and focused on a message of hope for the future. The rallying cry to turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen emerged.
Through an integrated campaign of traditional media, PR, aggressive social media outreach, spontaneous events and corporate sponsorships, the movement galvanised the world to become “citizens” of Hopenhagen, raising awareness for COP15 and its mission of a cleaner planet. With the theme “When people lead, leaders follow,” Hopenhagen became a term that embodied the spirit of change at the conference. The grassroots campaign was a huge success. More than six million people from over 200 countries signed up to become citizens of Hopenhagen and hundreds of traditional and social media stories used Hopenhagen in a headline – making it a term that is now part of the global vocabulary for positive change.

The Goal
Our goal was to raise awareness for COP15, push for a positive outcome and generate sustained public demand for a climate solution. We did not want to simply make another disposable environmental campaign, or fabricate a short-term stunt. We wanted to plant a seed for permanent change and move from the typical apocalyptic, negative messaging to a tone of optimism, empowerment and hope. Success would be measured by the number of people engaged, how they engaged to urge change and by their ability to interact with other citizens to create and share their own messages of hope.

Results
• More than six million people from more than 200 countries and territories became citizens of Hopenhagen.
• The movement secured 54,497 Facebook fans and 25,968 social media posts, including blog entries, image uploads and video submissions.
• Media outreach surrounding Hopenhagen was compiled from more than 350 media partners resulting in $200 million and 550 million media impressions from more than 50 countries.
• The Huffington Post Ambassador Contest generated 240,000 page views and endorsements from environmental organizations (Sierra Club), green Websites (The Daily Green and Mother Nature Network), blog networks (BlogHer) and university blogs, totaling 2.2 million unique visitors.
• High-profile support came through endorsements by the Danish Prime Minister and the Superliga football club Brønby IF, who donned Hopenhagen game jerseys. City Hall Square in Copenhagen became “Hopenhagen Live.”
• Spontaneous Hopenhagen rallies, flash mobs and sponsorships (Coke, SAP and Siemens) sprang up throughout the city.

Execution
We turned Copenhagen into Hopenhagen. Hopenhagen became a massive convergence of public will fueled by the people. Our team worked to:
• Create an idea to galvanize a global community.
• Develop core messaging, branding and collateral materials, including videos and posters. We recruited participants from the global creative community to maintain momentum, garner additional support from key influencers and inspire additional content.
• Launch www.Hopenhagen.org to showcase progress leading up to COP15 and allow supporters to become Hopenhagen citizens, download materials and follow the campaign through a blog that captures videos, tweets and other messages.
• Expand word-of-mouth momentum online with social media tactics including, The Huffington Post Hopenhagen Ambassador contest - which sponsored one citizen journalist at COP15 - to drive influencers to action and incentivise them to activate their social networks around the cause.
• Conduct ongoing media outreach via traditional and digital media promoting the movement.

The Situation
COP15 was considered the last opportunity to solve the climate crisis before the Kyoto protocol expired. Expectations and political tensions among world leaders were high. Agreeing on an international climate treaty would prove to be one of the biggest challenges of our time. When the UN/ IAA asked us to drive global awareness for the conference, we knew that an unprecedented grassroots movement would be our only hope for success. Existing climate change messaging was failing to motivate everyday people in sufficient numbers. A radically new approach was needed. It had to be a response from people around the world.

The Strategy
Turn the city of Copenhagen into the epicenter for a new kind of environmental campaign, opening the city’s doors to every nation, town and citizen in the world. Create a vital new global community that lived beyond the COP15 conference itself. By using traditional mass media to drive awareness, PR to create buzz, social media to offer points of interactive engagement and opportunities to register support, and surrounding it all with on-site staged events, the summit would become more than a meeting of global leaders – it would become a catalyst for change and revolutionise how people engaged in the debate. We would unite people around a common cause and provide the tools to organize across borders and spread the word. At its heart, the strategy aimed to build a community through social media and non-traditional outlets so people everywhere could express support for climate change and participate in the movement.